This American Life

Saturdays at 1 p.m.

Built around the innovative personal vision of host Ira Glass, "This American Life," quite literally, pioneered a new kind of radio storytelling. The weekly program explores a theme — fiascoes, conventions, the job that takes over your life — through a playful mix of radio monologues, mini-documentaries, "found tape," short fiction and unusual music.

This American Life is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 2.2 million listeners. It is produced by Chicago Public Media, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards. It is also often the most popular podcast in the country, with around one million people downloading each week. There was a television version of This American Life, produced from 2006-2008, on the Showtime network -- which won three Emmys. A half dozen stories from the radio show are being developed into films. In 2014, This American Life launched their first spinoff show, Serial, a podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig.